I'm worried. When is a baby considered to have a sleep disorder?
In the first year of life we cannot speak of a sleep disorder, because babies are born immature without a clear distinction between waking and sleeping states.
They live in a kind of intermediate stage between being asleep and being awake and repeatedly fall into deep sleep phases in which many maturation processes take place in their bodies.
It is normal for newborns to wake up every two hours, day and night, to feed.
Babies only adjust to the day-night rhythm at the end of the first 100 days of life.
They slowly realize that everyone around them is awake in the light and that you are asleep when it gets dark.
From about this point on, they sleep six hours straight at night, and at this age that's what we call sleeping through—even though it may seem brief to the parents.
Do many children really sleep through the night by the age of three months? not mine!
By three months, 70 percent of babies can “sleep through”.
The normal sleep behavior of the six-month-old baby corresponds to that of an adult at seven to eight hours, even if it has more frequent dream phases in which it sleeps restlessly.
By about a year, all children should be able to get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.
It is important, however, that all these developments are individual to each child and do not have to occur exactly after three, six or twelve months.
Parents' sleep can of course be significantly disturbed in the first year of life if they don't get any rest because their baby is sleeping very restlessly.
If you want to know exactly when and how long your child sleeps in total during the day, you can keep a sleep diary in which you document everything in detail.
That gives a good overview.
How can I tell if I've dressed my child too thin or too warm for the night?
Most parents tend to wrap their children way too warm.
This is not entirely harmless, because newborns in particular are not yet able to regulate their body temperature.
In general, their body temperature rises in the evening, and if it gets too warm overall, this is one of several risk factors for cot death.
As a guide, the temperature in the bedroom should not exceed 18 degrees, and parents should ask themselves what they themselves need at this moment to feel good, but not overheat.
A sleeping bag is usually enough.
You must definitely avoid blankets and pillows because of the risk of suffocation.
You shouldn't be irritated if your baby's nose, hands or feet are cool.
In the first few months you still have poor circulation and are therefore rather cold,
My child is 14 months old. He falls asleep well, but not through the night. What can I do?